Ledisi
For the R&B singer-songwriter Ledisi change is good even when it hurts, and there’s no point in resisting it anyway. “Turn Me Loose” (Verve Forecast), due out Tuesday, is her dissertation on the subject, inspired less by a recent presidential slogan than by a distant blues-rock anthem: “Them Changes,” a snarl of a tune by the former Band of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles. Ledisi covers it here as a bonus track, working her strident, soulful voice into a fury. And she borrows its subject matter for calmer ballads like “Goin’ Through Changes,” written with Rex Rideout, and “Everything Changes,” produced by Chucky Thompson. “Turn Me Loose” also has its share of kiss-offs and entreaties — Ledisi can manage both, though vulnerability eludes her even on a track called “Alone” — and enough tight musicianship to satisfy any retro-soul partisan. Speaking of which, Ledisi wrote two of these songs with Raphael Saadiq: “Please Stay,” which hardly goes deeper than the title, and “Love Never Changes,” which opens with a buoyant groove and an almost Zen-like reflection. “If I could/Change my world, things would be the same/There would still be love and pain/‘Cause without it, I would never change.”
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble
The drummer and composer John Hollenbeck inhabits a world of gleaming modernity, and “Eternal Interlude” (Sunnyside), the second album featuring his Large Ensemble, reflects both the clarity and brightness of his vision. Timbre is his forte as much as rhythm: his strategies for the band often involve an autumnal rustle of woodwinds and a billowing swirl of brass. On the superb 19-minute title track he creates a gossamer shimmer of flutes, clarinets, piano and marimba; on “The Cloud” he finds use for a chorus of whistlers. There’s room for robust improvising in his music — the tenor saxophonists Tony Malaby and Ellery Eskelin both make hay on “Perseverance” — but it always feels transitional, like a means to an end. So too does Mr. Hollenbeck’s interaction with the jazz canon here, as when he beams Thelonious Monk’s “Four in One” through a complex prism, yielding something meaningfully titled “Foreign One.”
Ben Perowsky Quartet
Ben Perowsky is another drummer-composer who drifts in and out of jazz circles, though his style skews brawnier and more direct. On his absorbingly rugged new album, “Esopus Opus” (Skirl), he leads a band with the accordionist Ted Reichman, the bassist Drew Gress and the multireedist Chris Speed — musicians who also happen to work in Mr. Hollenbeck’s signature group, the Claudia Quintet. That overlap is a minor distraction on the album, noticeable mainly at insinuative tempos, like the one that guides George Harrison’s “Within You Without You.” On more knockabout fare, including a swaggering take on “Manic Depression,” by Jimi Hendrix, the band clears its own space, sounding wily and athletic. The playing is sharp, the rapport effortless, and the original tunes, variously busy or bleary, are worth hearing for the commitment they inspire.
For the R&B singer-songwriter Ledisi change is good even when it hurts, and there’s no point in resisting it anyway. “Turn Me Loose” (Verve Forecast), due out Tuesday, is her dissertation on the subject, inspired less by a recent presidential slogan than by a distant blues-rock anthem: “Them Changes,” a snarl of a tune by the former Band of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles. Ledisi covers it here as a bonus track, working her strident, soulful voice into a fury. And she borrows its subject matter for calmer ballads like “Goin’ Through Changes,” written with Rex Rideout, and “Everything Changes,” produced by Chucky Thompson. “Turn Me Loose” also has its share of kiss-offs and entreaties — Ledisi can manage both, though vulnerability eludes her even on a track called “Alone” — and enough tight musicianship to satisfy any retro-soul partisan. Speaking of which, Ledisi wrote two of these songs with Raphael Saadiq: “Please Stay,” which hardly goes deeper than the title, and “Love Never Changes,” which opens with a buoyant groove and an almost Zen-like reflection. “If I could/Change my world, things would be the same/There would still be love and pain/‘Cause without it, I would never change.”
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble
The drummer and composer John Hollenbeck inhabits a world of gleaming modernity, and “Eternal Interlude” (Sunnyside), the second album featuring his Large Ensemble, reflects both the clarity and brightness of his vision. Timbre is his forte as much as rhythm: his strategies for the band often involve an autumnal rustle of woodwinds and a billowing swirl of brass. On the superb 19-minute title track he creates a gossamer shimmer of flutes, clarinets, piano and marimba; on “The Cloud” he finds use for a chorus of whistlers. There’s room for robust improvising in his music — the tenor saxophonists Tony Malaby and Ellery Eskelin both make hay on “Perseverance” — but it always feels transitional, like a means to an end. So too does Mr. Hollenbeck’s interaction with the jazz canon here, as when he beams Thelonious Monk’s “Four in One” through a complex prism, yielding something meaningfully titled “Foreign One.”
Ben Perowsky Quartet
Ben Perowsky is another drummer-composer who drifts in and out of jazz circles, though his style skews brawnier and more direct. On his absorbingly rugged new album, “Esopus Opus” (Skirl), he leads a band with the accordionist Ted Reichman, the bassist Drew Gress and the multireedist Chris Speed — musicians who also happen to work in Mr. Hollenbeck’s signature group, the Claudia Quintet. That overlap is a minor distraction on the album, noticeable mainly at insinuative tempos, like the one that guides George Harrison’s “Within You Without You.” On more knockabout fare, including a swaggering take on “Manic Depression,” by Jimi Hendrix, the band clears its own space, sounding wily and athletic. The playing is sharp, the rapport effortless, and the original tunes, variously busy or bleary, are worth hearing for the commitment they inspire.
